Sunday, March 15, 2015

My friend Lisa “The Rage” Roan is a
Media Consultant for Pembroke Pines Media Group. The Rage knows everyone in the
Twin Tiers. Everyone. She schmoozes
with businesses and local nonprofit groups pitching ad campaigns and selling
air time for commercials. Think of her as the Media Queen of Elmira. She has
won the Chemung County Chamber of Commerce’s Ambassador of the Year award for two
consecutive years. On top of that, she gets invited to events all over her
media group’s listening area like concerts, musicals, charity events, and so
on. When I find myself in need of networking while researching a plot line for
one of my books, I can usually count on The Rage for a contact person.

Three weeks ago, I posted on my personal
Facebook account that I was looking to interview someone who had flown in a
sailplane at Harris Hill Soaring Corporation. Of course, The Rage came to my
rescue. She not only knew someone who has flown, but the person she referred me
to was one of the facility’s pilots who also serves as a flight instructor. A
few private messages were exchanged between us and, just like that, I had an
appointment set up to not only interview Todd Knapp, but to also tour the
facility.

L to R: The original hangar built during WWII, and my expert guide, pilot Todd Knapp.

Harris Hill is known as the Soaring
Capital of America and home to the National Soaring Plane Museum. The flight
center and museum are situated on a plateau that sits at 1,709 feet above sea
level and is located in Big Flats, NY. The main hanger was constructed during
World War II and holds several sailplanes as well as tow planes. The hanger
also has a lower level that stores even more sailplanes. The soaring center is
a nonprofit organization that depends on memberships and public sailplane rides
as well as countless volunteer hours that each member is required to do in
order to keep the program running successfully. Perhaps the coolest aspect of
this organization is the fact that most of the members have been flying since
thirteen or fourteen years of age! In fact, Todd started his flight training at
13 years old. Harris Hill offers a Junior Membership program. Because of this, membership
spans over many generations. Todd told me that, Corky, one of their flight
instructors, is retired from the Air Force where he served on the ground crew
for the famous Thunderbirds stunt fighter jets that travel around the world to
various air shows. Another instructor, Heinz, is a former U-2 Bomber pilot. If
one were to add up the combined amount of flight time their members have, it
would probably blow your mind. While looking into their junior program, I was
shocked to learn how affordable it is. The facility subsidizes the cost of the
junior program as a means to promote their hobby so that future generations
will carry on the tradition. Per the facilities website, out of 600,000 pilots
in the United States, only 3.5% of them hold a glider rating. Getting back to
the affordability of their program, after checking other popular teen programs
in the area, Harris Hill’s junior flying program costs a fraction of what the others
do. Speaking as the mother of an equestrian, a flight session costs half of what a one-hour riding lesson
costs. For a season, it costs a third less than a season on a youth hockey
league.

Top to Bottom: The windsock displaying justhow blustery it was during my tour; old photos adorning the flight center walls. BelowClip from Thomas Crown Affair.

I met with Todd on Saturday, March 7th.
It was a blustery, cold morning and I found both my pen and fingers uncooperative
due to the chill as I attempted to take notes. While the center is closed for
the season, the dedicated members were on premises working on one of their
fleet planes. Off season allows them time for annual maintenance. From the
sounds of things, this tightknit group spends a lot of their free time at the
facility just to get together and trade flying stories. For the purpose of my
interview, I asked Todd if he could walk me through the preparation time as
seen by a first time passenger. The corporation’s choice craft for high
performance rides is the ASK 21 designed by Alexander Schleicher of Germany. It
is a two-person craft with controls in both the front and back to allow flight
control from either seat. He explained the entire process from boarding to
flight preparation while educating me about the parts of the sailplane. That
particular sailplane was recently put back together after being taken apart and
inspected carefully. The entire fuselage shined like a new craft due to the
loving attention it received from being waxed and buffed. Todd told me that each aircraft received the
same attention.

Todd’s passion for flying was
infectious. The longer I was in his presence, listening to his flight
experiences, the more I knew I wanted to take a sailplane ride. I guess that
means Todd wears three hats in reality; pilot, instructor, and salesperson
because he’s really good at selling people on the experience! He spoke fondly of Liz, his former instructor,
who now instructs in Germany. Harris Hill has also made it to the big screen.
He told me how the takeoff scene in the Peirce Brosnan/Renee Russo movie Thomas
Crown Affair was filmed there.

Todd invited me back to take a sailplane
ride when the season picks up. Harris Hill’s program reopens on April 4, 2015.
Mere weeks away. I have to say, I am totally psyched about going for a ride. I
love planes and love flying—even though I’m petrified of heights. Petrified.
Who got all knock-kneed and almost hyperventilated climbing up the Statue of
Liberty? Yep. This girl. A lot has changed since growing older, too. My blood
pressure medication can cause motion sickness. In order to make certain my
future sailplane flight can happen—and without a hitch—a phone call to my
family practitioner has to happen. I’m thinking a mild antianxiety medication
and something to combat motion sickness. I’ll have to see what he thinks. I'm determined to make it happen! Todd explained what it was like balancing flight with science. Using natural elements like thermals, ridge lifts, and mountain waves to carry and propel the sailplane. He explained that no two flights were exactly the same. Variations arrived due to weather conditions, passengers, time of day, and season and a pilot has to act on those variations and engage the proper adjustments to the flight.

Seeing the sailplanes invoked
long-suppressed dreams I’d had of flying. From the moment I saw movies like Iron Eagle and Top Gun as a teen, I entertained the thought of becoming a military
pilot. I took what I think was considered a practice ASVAB while in high school
and scored well. That was when the recruiters started calling our house. I
strongly considered the Air Force. My parents sort of burst my bubble when they
reminded me that there weren’t many female military pilots. They reinforced it
by saying the chances of my becoming a pilot were slim to none. And then my
thoughts turned to basic training. Hiking in full uniform while carrying a backpack
for miles and miles, helped take away the rest of whatever appeal was left
after my parents’ sabotage. Nevertheless, I’ve never lost my interest in
planes. During our 1997 vacation in Tucson, Arizona, my husband and I stayed at
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. I was in heaven! Military planes everywhere—retired
planes on display around their guest lodging facility and jets taking off and
flying overhead! At times, there was so much air traffic, I didn’t know where
to focus my attention. I begged my ex-brother-in-law to arrange a ride for me
in a fighter jet, but he laughed it off. His feeling was, if he couldn’t get a
ride in one and he was a lifer, there
was no amount of string-pulling he could do on his end to make it happen for a
civilian. Davis-Monthan is also home to the national airplane graveyard. Due to the dry
heat of the desert environment, it allows for the perfect storing conditions
for retired planes. At the time, Vern told me that most of the aircraft would
take very little in maintenance to be flight ready should our military have a
need to put them back into service. I would have loved a tour of the graveyard,
but tours require special preparation including clearances and so on. Vern didn’t
know ahead of time that I’d be interested. He retired in January 2011 after serving
twenty-three years, ten months, and thirteen days in the United States Air
Force. Even though he and my sister-in-law have been divorced for many years,
it doesn’t diminish the admiration and respect I have for him and his years of
military service as well as his loving dedication to my niece, Kirstan.

Admit it, when you hear, "Marverick's going supersonic!" it gives you goosebumps!